A Family Healing
When Patrick and Heather first opened their home to sweet two-year-old Jonah,* they wanted to provide a safe, secure home for him. Although hesitant to communicate with his biological parents, Heather decided to start sending letters to Jonah’s mom in his backpack when he went on supervised visits. Heather wasn’t sure if his mom got them or even if she wanted to read them. All she had was faith that God would use them somehow.
A few months later, Patrick and Heather welcomed Jonah’s older sister, Ashley,* into their home. As Heather was unpacking her items, she saw a letter from their mom, Casey.* In it, she shared details about Ashley that would be helpful for Heather and Patrick to know while she was in their care.
“This opened up the door for me to communicate back to her,” said Heather. “In the letter, she thanked us for taking care of her kids during a hard time and hoped to meet us one day.” It was then that Heather realized they weren’t just taking care of a foster child—they were impacting the whole family.
Patrick and Heather learned that Casey was just 20 years old and had three children under the age of four. She and her husband, David,* didn’t have any kind of support system, like friends, family, or a local church group, that could help them when they needed it. They felt overwhelmed and alone.
After getting that letter back, Heather started exchanging emails with Casey. “Within a few short weeks of being in your home, Ashley started praying for all of us before we ate and before bed,” Casey shared in her first email.
“It hit David and I like a truck, and we opened our eyes that it’s not just us it’s affecting by not going to church, but it’s also depriving our children of that love and knowledge. I could never thank you enough for introducing that life to our children.”
Eventually, Patrick and Heather were spending time with Casey and David in person. They sat together at Ashley’s basketball games to cheer her on. Over time, their relationship grew and they became like family.
“They hug us, they thank us, they tell us how much they love us,” Heather shared. “Last Sunday, David gave Patrick a big bear hug, like they’ve been lifelong buddies.” They’re even planning to spend holiday meals together, just like one big family.
David and Casey have worked very hard to create a stable, loving environment for Jonah and Ashley when they return home. Right now, the plan is for them to go back to David and Casey early next year. “When this is over, we hope to step into more of a grandparent role in their lives,” said Heather.
Patrick and Heather not only provided Jonah and Ashley with a warm bed, new clothes, and food on the table—God used their faith to help heal a family that was experiencing trauma. God broke the chains of generational curses and turned them into generational healing.
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*Names have been changed to protect identities.